Today in History - History - April 17th

1925NY Yankee Babe Ruth has ulcer surgery

1988Nancy Lopez wins LPGA AI Star/Centinela Hospital Golf Classic

1997NJ Devil Martin Brodeur is 2nd NHL goalie to score in a playoff game

1983Nolan Ryan strikes out his 3,500th batter

1976NL greatest comeback, trailing 12-1 Phils win 18-16 in 10, Mike Schmidt hits 4 consecutive HRs

1808Bayonne Decree by Napoleon I of France orders seizure of US ships

1961Jimmy Stewart accepts an honorary Oscar on behalf of his friend Gary Cooper, who is too ill to attend

1987Julius Erving becomes 3rd NBA player to score 30,000 points

1970Paul McCartney's 1st solo album "McCartney" is released

1939Stalin signs British-France-Russian anti-Nazi pact

1620Marguerite Bourgeoys, Troyes France, founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame (first Canadian saint)

1974Victoria Beckham [Adams], Harlow, Essex, English singer (Posh Spice-Spice Girls)

1972Jennifer Garner [Affleck], Houston, Texas. American actress (Sydney Bristow-Alias)

1923Harry Reasoner, Dakota City Iowa, newscaster (60 Minutes, ABC, CBS)

1929Baseball great Babe Ruth (34) marries 2nd wife Claire Merritt Hodgson (31)

2009World's no. 1 professional tennis player Andy Roddick (29) weds fashion model and actress Brooklyn Decker (25) in Austin, Texas

1790Benjamin Franklin, US, US Founding Father, inventor ambassador and writer (Poor Richards Almanac), dies at 84

2014Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist (1982 Nobel Prize in Literature), dies of pneumonia at 87